Opportune Meetings
by Mandolina Lightrobber
Summary: Sometimes the opportunity finds you no matter where you are. And sometimes all you have to do is just follow it.


**A/N: **Written for a _78 tarot_ writing community over at LiveJournal, using the prompt _45 -_ _Six of Swords_. Its meaning is _openness, travelling, _or _a confession of love_.

**Warnings: **worksafe.

**Disclaimer:** _Yuugiou_ is the property of Kazuki Takahashi and all associated companies. No claim of ownership is being made with this, no copyright infringement intended with this, and no profit is being made from this. Please support the original creators by buying their production.

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**Opportune Meetings**

_"I care about you, Mai."_

Those words kept ringing through her head, as she travelled through the winding roads of Japan in her convertible. Why she still resided in this country, she didn't know and cursed out loud while rushing through a curve in the road.

"Stupid brat," she snarled to no one in particular and sped up, completely ignoring the scenery that whizzed by. She wasn't here for sightseeing. She wasn't here to duel, either. She'd done that and she'd won it all. Won, and then lost it all at the next turn. She cursed again. That wasn't something she wanted to remember right now, mostly because it brought back memories of a time in her life which she was the least proud of, and with it, the memory of that boy. No, that _brat_. Even though he had a pretty face. And a good body. Mai found herself snarling out another audible curse. One thick-headed jerk was already more than enough; she didn't need yet another idiot in her life. And yet there he was – there they both were, rooted in her memories.

Mai kept on driving and trying to not think about either of them. Not for long though.

At one point Mai thought to have noticed a motorcycle in the distance, but the road was curvy there and parts of it were hidden behind hills and groves, so she could have been mistaken. Soon she saw it again, though; closer this time. Something inside of her jumped a little, making her scowl almost immediately. Why did it matter? Bikers weren't anything unusual, even in Japan. So what? Did she have to jump every time she heard a familiar engine roaring outside her window? She shouldn't even care. He probably wasn't even in this country anymore. He had, after all, no reason to stay here after the bankruptcy of the company he'd worked for. She'd heard on the news some time ago that Paradias Industry had caved in on itself, losing its owner in a mystery accident, and with the collapse of their main buildings in both Japan and the United States of America had stopped existing altogether. Some smaller company had bought whatever remained for only a little more than a sandwich and that was that. Mai hadn't cared enough to find out more, intent on erasing that period of her life from her memory.

Meanwhile, the motorcycle was coming steadily closer and Mai was arguing with herself and her stupid memories. This whole situation was stupid. She accelerated again. The motorcycle was quickly drawing nearer as well and the distance between them diminished steadily. And then they were already on the same part of the road – a small straight part between two U-curves. At this point Mai realised that the motorcycle was heading straight for her without dropping the speed. It wasn't going to turn and give way.

"Son of a…" Mai screamed and hit the brakes. Cursing, she swerved to avoid the impact. A car wasn't a motorcycle.

The bike stopped barely an inch away from the car's passenger side's door.

"Are you fucking crazy, you asshole?" she yelled at the biker while he pulled off his helmet, and even before his puffy brown hair spilled out from it, she knew. So heaven help her, she already knew.

"Hello, Mai," Valon said, looking just as smug as he felt. Some things hadn't changed.

"Are you fucking crazy, you asshole?" she repeated once more, not having anything better to stay, not even a greeting in return, though her voice had lost its previous almost-hysterical edge. For some reason this meeting made her feel a little bit easier.

"Nice t' meet ya too." Valon laughed and ran a hand through his hair, his other hand keeping the helmet balanced on the bike in front of him.

"Suicidal moron," Mai spat, her hands relaxing a little on the steering wheel. She hadn't even realised how hard she had been gripping it just moments ago. And somehow, someway, she'd known. She'd known even before he'd gone after her with that suicide stunt just like back then. Two air-headed morons. One sat around, waiting for her to come back, while the other… The other went out and got what he wanted. Mai wanted to both laugh and strangle Valon right now, but she was too pissed off at him to do either.

"So how's life?" Valon asked, hanging the helmet on a handlebar before leaning back a little in his seat.

They were blocking the road, but neither of them cared much about it right now. No cars were heading their way from either side, so why should they bother?

"It was okay before you showed up," Mai muttered and ran a hand through her hair absent-mindedly. They'd gotten messed up in that crazy braking stunt.

"Just okay?" Valon raised his eyebrows, sounding just a little mocking before a broad grin appeared on his face. "Then it's good I showed up."

She opened her mouth to send him to hell, but the words didn't want to come out for some reason. She settled on the next best option instead.

"What do you want?"

He leaned forward on his bike now, crossed his forearms and rested them on the handlebars. Well now, this was interesting.

"What makes ya think I want something?" He sounded as amused as he looked. He'd grown up quite a bit these past years, and he'd realised quite a few things about himself and his past relationships. He was more than ready to try his hand again in what hadn't succeeded the first time around.

She gave him a sharp look, but his expression didn't change, and for some reason that made her feel a little ashamed of herself. She was so used to everyone wanting something from her that this was her default reaction.

"'Cause _he_ wanted somethin' from ya? 'Cause everybody else wanted somethin' from ya?" He made a sound then, something between a snort and a laugh, knowing that he'd hit the jackpot with that comment. "Didn't I tell ya? I ain't _like_ them, Mai."

"Whatever," she muttered and revved up the engine. She couldn't stand this conversation for even a minute longer and decided that attack would be the best defence. "Clear the way."

He hastily put on his helmet and took a hold of the handlebars. He wasn't going to let her get away this time. He was smarter now. And he had his mind set on what he wanted. "Mind if I tag along?"

She glared at him, though half-heartedly. "Do whatever the hell you want."

And oh, he was going to.

Two engines roared down the curvy roads. General direction: nowhere particular.


End file.
